Statutory Interpretation: The Search for Legislative Intent

Statute reading can prompt more questions than answers largely because statutes often suffer from ambiguities, inconsistencies, or complete gaps in meaning. Statutory Interpretation: The Search for Legislative Intent is the first book to provide judges, lawyers, and law students with a handy source to find the proper methods and tools of statutory interpretation.

This concise 4-x-6-inch pocket book is designed to be read through with a particular statute in mind while considering how different approaches might apply. Footnotes are kept to a minimum and are occasionally included to cite cases that are good examples of a particular method being discussed.

In preparing for litigation, attorneys can consult Statutory Interpretation: The Search for Legislative Intent to make sure that all credible arguments have been considered and that counter-arguments are prepared to use against opponents. The table of contents can be used as a checklist in this process. In addition, trial court and intermediate appellate court judges will find this book useful in understanding the required and prohibited methods for statutory interpretation when bound by decisions of higher courts, constitutional provisions, and possibly even statutes that mandate the proper approach to statutory interpretation.

Ronald Benton Brown is Professor of Law at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center. He is the author of a number of books on real property law, and over seventy professional publications.